Woman dragged off street and raped

At about 2am on Saturday 28 July 2012, police were called to Belfield Lane in Rochdale following reports a 29-year-old woman had been raped.

The woman had been on a night out when she was grabbed from behind by an unknown man near to the junction with Samson Street, forced behind a row of houses and raped.

The offender is described as being Asian, 5ft 2in tall, of muscular build, in his late 30s, with short dark hair with long spikes on top and was clean shaven. He was wearing light coloured baggy jeans, a sandy coloured belt with a silver buckle and a dark hooded top with a light coloured top underneath. He wore a stud earring in his left ear and white trainers.

A 33-year-old man was arrested at an early stage in the investigation but has since been eliminated.

Detective Inspector Debbie Dooley, of the Serious Sexual Offences Unit,said: “I know this will cause anxiety in the community but I want to reassure residents we believe this to be an isolated incident and there is no information to connect it to any other current or previous investigations.

“The victim is being supported by specially trained officers and since this happened we have had extra officers in the area to provide reassurance.

“We are continuing our investigation to try and identify the person responsible and it is vital anyone with information about the incident, regardless of how insignificant you think it might be, calls us.

“If you think you recognise someone from the description but are worriedabout getting in touch I would urge you to do so as we can eliminate anyonewho is innocent.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or 0161 856 1812, or theindependent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

You can call Greater Manchester Police on 101, or alternatively people canrefer themselves to St Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre on 0161 276 6515.